The Federation of Enfield Residents' & Allied Associations

Crime & Safety

Crime Prevention and Detection in Enfield

Enfield is fortunate in being spared the higher levels of personal and property crime experienced in some London boroughs, but we see pressures rising in the future both from criminal elements and limitations on the resources available to police forces to deter criminality.

FERAA works at several levels within the Borough to promote better security arrangements for those that live, work and play here. Enfield is an attractive borough and FERAA’s key aim is to maintain this advantage.

FERAA makes representations to the police where it sees pressures increasing and encourages all residents to inform the police of behaviour or activities likely to lead to a breach of the peace.  In turn FERAA passes on important information about crime, personal safety and security to its affiliated associations via its e-mail forum and this website.

Safer Neighbourhoods

Enfield police are very motivated to maintain the best possible links with the public. The Safer Neighbourhoods scheme was introduced to the Borough between 2004 and 2006 and has greatly improved the way that the Metropolitan Police Service responds to the needs of residents at a local ward level. From the start, Enfield has been ‘ahead of the game’ in many respects, piloting the original scheme and refining it to meet the challenges presented by specific wards.

FERAA encourages community representatives from its affiliated associations to become involved in the work of their local Safer Neighbourhoods ward panel, which in Enfield is called a CAPE. See below for contact phone numbers for your ward team. Police are usually present at councillors’ ward forums, held about four times a year, when the public has a chance to directly question the police on crime in their locality and get an idea of what action the police are taking to control it.

Safer Neighbourhood Board

The chairs of all the ward CAPEs and other groups form the Safer Neighbourhood Board (SNB) which meets every three months. FERAA is represented on the SNB and until May 2015 chaired the SNB and the Enfield Community Police Partnership that preceded it.

Crime Scrutiny Panel

This scrutiny panel looks at the work of the police and other connected agencies in the Borough and holds the Borough Commander and her Senior Management Team to account. The SNB are represented on this scrutiny panel, directly influencing local police policy.

The Basic Command Unit

These days one cannot be unaware of the restraints on government spending. The Metropolitan Police Service has already made savings of £600m and is scheduled to save £325m more by 2021. Officer numbers declined to some 30,000 during 2018 and would potentially fall further by 2021; however there are moves afoot now to increase warranted officer numbers across the capital in response to demand and we await details.

Helped by other savings, each ward will still continue to have two Dedicated Ward Officers and one Police Community Support Officer (PCSO). These officers will work with local people on local priorities and won’t normally be taken away to help with policing elsewhere in London.

The council works in partnership with the police and pays for specialised patrols. It also provides funding for specialised Safer Transport teams to target anti-social behaviour and crime on our buses and at the major transport hubs. There are also specialised police officers in the borough’s secondary schools.

The organisation of police services in London is undergoing major change. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Ms Cressida Dick, has introduced the Basic Command Unit (BCU) across London. Thus 32 boroughs will amalgamate to become 12 BCUs, yielding £73m of savings. As a result, Enfield and Haringey police are now combined under the command of Det Chief Superintendent Treena Flemming.

The Met has been testing the new BCU concept in pathfinder boroughs since early 2017 and the lessons learnt have resulted in improvements to the original BCU model. Changes made in August 2017 following the terror attacks at Westminster, London Bridge and Finsbury Park have resulted in lasting improvements to emergency response performance which is now better than when the pathfinders started.

As crime operates fluidly, so residents must expect changes in the disposition of our police forces to combat it. Currently there is pressure to reassign police effort back towards basic prevention and detection, becoming more pro-active, and strategically oriented. With finite resources, the increasing pressure on the police to respond to such matters as hate crimes and social media conflicts has disturbing implications for general public safety; crimes against property have taken a backseat to crimes against the person, and this cannot be expected to change. Increased allocations of police time to personal protection duties and control of demonstrations further detract from community protection services.

Getting in Touch

Residents are aware that police stations have closed across the borough. This is all part of concentrating resources where they produce best results, and lowering overheads. For Enfield, Edmonton Police station remains open 24/7 at 462 Fore Street, Edmonton N9 0PW.

Plans are underway to arrange for police to meet the public at face-to-face sessions at other contact points in the borough, to increase the opportunities for interchange above what was possible at former police stations.

In the meantime, if matters are not urgent, residents can contact the local ward Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) either by joining them for a ‘cuppa with a copper’ (see your ward SNT newsletter) or by phoning them on the SNT number for your ward:

Two more urgent numbers are:

101 – when Police are required but not as an emergency response, or when you want to report a crime.

999 – when URGENT attendance is required – for example when a crime is being committed or there is a threat to life.  Response time is normally under 15 minutes.

Links to further information

Go to MPS for more about the Metropolitan Police Service. There is a great deal of information available.

FERAA

9/19